Friday, May 29, 2015

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) today challenged
President Benigno Aquino III to certify as priority legislation of his administration
the bill providing for criminalization of violation of occupational safety and
health (OSH) standards.
“PNoy’s declaration that there needs to be an ‘integrated multi-disciplinary
approach’ in response to the Kentex factory fire are highfalutin words good for
bureaucrats but abstract to workers who want to see concrete action and political
will from the government,” averred Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

It was reported that last Wednesday that President Aquino
met officials from the Labor Department and other agencies regarding the
government’s response to the Kentex fire. Even earlier Labor Secretary
Rosalinda Baldoz pushed for the enactment of pending bills that mandate stiffer
fines and jail terms for employer breach of workplace safety standards.

“We welcome Secretary Baldoz’s support for bills criminalizing
OSH violations
but until her boss PNoy certifies as urgent such pending legislation, they
remain so much noise signifying nothing,” Magtubo insisted.

PM had been vocal in calling not just for justice for
workers killed and injured in the Kentex fire but for labor inspection and
enforcement reforms. As an immediate reform, Magtubo called for deputizing
labor leaders as additional labor inspectors. PM is also pushing for criminalization
of OSH
violations as a potent deterrent.

Magtubo said that “Workers can forget PNoy’s slight of not
even visiting the Kentex factory after the fire or the wake of workers killed,
but we cannot forgive if in the coming State of the Nation address he will not
certify as urgent the bills providing for criminalization of OSH breach and for
protection of security of tenure.”

Labor groups have been campaigning for passage of security
of tenure bill that will regulate the rampant practice of replacing regular
workers with contractual laborers. In the wake of the Kentex fire, it was found
out that Kentex not only violated OSH
standards but also labor laws, including using an illegal contractor to hire agency
workers in the factory.

Thursday, May 21, 2015

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) today challenged the
business sector to speak on the fire at Kentex Manufacturing Corp. that killed
at least 72 people, almost all of whom were factory workers and many of whom
were women.

“Compared to the prominent role of employers in support of
the controversial Bangsamoro Basic Law, they are noticeably absent in the calls
for justice and reform in the wake of the tragic Kentex fire. Would Jaime Zobel
de Ayala and Manny Pangilinan link up arms with labor leaders to call for
jailing the immoral owners of Kentx and the criminalization of workplace safety
violations?,” asserted Judy Ann Miranda, PM secretary general.

Yesterday, PM together with labor groups affiliated to the
coalition Nagkaisa! trooped to the Kentex factory to hold a site inspection and
spray paint the gutted factory and nearby establishment with the message
“Sweatshop ito: NAKAMAMATAY!” The action was part of PM’s campaign to seek
justice for the Kentex workers and demand labor reforms.

“Employer groups have been deafeningly silent on Kentex in
contrast to their noisy opposition to wage hike demands. We dare them to
denounce Kentex for its violations of workplace safety and labor standards. We
call on them to support calls for criminalization of breach of occupational
safety and health,” Miranda argued.

She noted that the recent statement by Employer
Confederation of the Philippines that it does not condone labor law violations
and it supports penalizing Kentex if found guilty is “too little, too late given
the concrete facts that have been uncovered about the sweatshop conditions at
the factory.”

PM is demanding that business groups spell out detailed mechanisms
for self-regulation among it employer members to ensure compliance with labor
rights and standards.

Miranda explained that “Even big companies and multinational
corporations, which are generally compliant with the minimum standards set by
law, benefit from sweatshop labor because small companies are subcontractors in
their supply chains. For example, global garment brands even employ homeworkers
toiling under the exploitative piece rate system not as direct employees but as
laborers in layers upon layers of subcontracting arrangements. No wonder the
business sector is quiet and absent in the outrage over Kentex since the
capitalist class benefit as a whole from sweatshop labor.”

Monday, May 18, 2015

The militant Partido Manggagawa (PM) is calling for the
criminal prosecution of the owners of Kentex Manufacturing and its subcontractor
CJC Manpower Services. To highlight this call, some 50 PM members will troop this
morning to the main office of the Department of Labor and Employment as Labor
Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz summons the representatives of Kentex and CJC for a
mandatory conference.

“Workers who are caught jaywalking can be jailed. The owners
of Kentex and CJC deserve no less a penalty for the massacre of some 70 workers
and injuries to dozens more. The owners of Kentex and CJC are not just immoral
but criminal. Justice for Kentex workers cannot be served by giving P13,000 in
assistance to the families,” declared Wilson Fortaleza, PM spokesperson.

PM vows to continue pressing for justice for Kentex workers who
were killed and injured in the factory fire last week. Earlier, PM together
with the Nagkaisa labor coalition held a candle lighting protest at the Kentex factory.
More actions are slated for the coming days.

As Secretary Baldoz called on Congress to put “teeth to the
law” by passing pending legislative bills providing for criminal penalties for
violations of occupational safety and health standards, PM challenged the DOLE
to use its existing visitorial and enforcement powers to inspect establishments
to prevent another workplace tragedy.

“Obviously we welcome criminalization of the breach of workplace
safety. Still what the DOLE lacks is political will not enforcement powers Article
128 of the Labor Code already empowers the Labor Secretary or her
representative to investigate any fact, condition or matter which may be necessary
to determine violations or may aid in the enforcement of labor laws,” Fortaleza
insisted.

He added that “In the very same industrial compound where Kentex
is situated are other factories that we believe are similar sweatshops and possible
firetraps. Secretary Baldoz and the DOLE’s labor law compliance officers should
waste no time inspecting these Kentex-like sweatshops and firetraps.”

“Kentex and its illegal subcontractor CJC are both small
fry. As far as illegal and immoral forms of contractualization is concerned there
are bigger fish out there. We have been campaigning already against Asiapro,
the biggest supplier of contractual workers in the guise of a labor cooperative.
And everyone knows the endo system at SM. But the DOLE has not lifted a finger
in these cases,” Fortaleza
ended.

Sunday, May 17, 2015

WHAT: Rally by PM members to call for criminal prosecution
of owners of Kentex and its subcontractor CJC

WHEN: Today, May 18, 2015; 10:00 a.m.

WHERE: DOLE Intramuros

DETAILS: Some 50 members of PM will hold a rally this morning at
DOLE main office in Intramuros as Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz calls the
representatives of Kentex and its subcontractor CJC Services in a mandatory
conference. PM is calling for the criminal prosecution of the owners of Kentex
and CJC even as the DOLE probes the culpable violations by the two companies.

PM vows to continue pressing for justice for Kentex workers
killed and injured in the factory fire last week. Earlier, PM together with the
Nagkaisa labor coalition held a candle lighting protest at the Kentex factory.
More actions are slated for the coming days.

“Workers who are caught jaywalking can be jailed. The
owners of Kentex and CJC deserve no less a penalty for the massacre of some 70
workers and injuries to dozens more. The owners of Kentex and CJC are not just
immoral but criminal. Justice for Kentex workers cannot be served by giving
P13,000 in assistance to the families,” declared Wilson Fortaleza, PM
spokesperson.

He
added that “Unfortunately it took the death of dozens of workers to make it as
clear as daylight: Contractualization kills! Labor rights violations kill too!”

Friday, May 15, 2015

The militant Partido Manggagawa (PM) called
for strongerlaborenforcement andlaborinspection in response to the deadly fire at the Kentex factory in Valenzuela
that has already claimed the lives of 72 people. Members of PM together with the labor coalition Nagkaisa trooped to the Kentex factory today to demand immediate justice and labor reforms.

"Heads
must roll and justice must be served for the needless deaths and injuries to workers,” insisted
Renato Magtubo, PM chairperson.

PM lambasted employers for cutting corners in occupational safety in order to
raise profits and the Department ofLaborand
Employment (DOLE) for the lax implementation oflaborand safety standards. The deaths
of Kentex workers comes on top of the loss of lives in several construction
sites amidst the current real estate boom. “While capitalists were
scrimping on protection for workers and DOLE was sleeping on its job of
enforcement, workers are dying in the workplace,” Magtuboelaborated.

He averred that“Accidentsare
not acts of divine providence that can be dismissed as unavoidable. Instead,accidentsare
the result of unsafe acts and therefore preventable by strict enforcement of
occupational safety and health andlabor standards.”

“We propose that the DOLE deputizelabor leaders
aslaborinspectors.
In so doing the number of inspectors and inspections can be increased several
fold overnight, enforcement can be strengthened immediately, and workers lives
and limbs can be saved,” Magtubo recommended.

He
noted that the DOLE’s “Labor Laws Compliance System” (LLCS) inaugurated in 2013
and the hike in the number of labor inspectors to almost 600 is still not
working. An audit by the International Labor Organization in 2009 revealed that
with only 193 labor inspectors to inspect 784,000 companies,
an establishment gets inspected only once every 16 years.

“A
big loophole in the so-called LLCS is the focus on ‘voluntary compliance’ and ‘self-assessment’
by employers. Voluntary compliance and self-assessment means that the
government is asking the wolf to guard the sheep. No wonder the sheep get
slaughtered,”Magtubo criticized.

Headded that “The
DOLE has again been caught sleeping on the job. DOLE must review contractors
and their principals for compliance not just with safety regulations butlaborstandards
such as payment of minimum wages and benefits, observance of working hours and
remittance of social security among others. Contractual workers are among the
most overworked yet underpaid of employees since they are unorganized.”

News
reports have cited survivors as saying that agency workers at Kentex had below minimum
wages, were not given hazard pay and social security contributions were not remitted.

Thursday, May 14, 2015

A coalition of labor groups offered sympathies to the
victims of a deadly fire in ValenzuelaCity as it called on
concerned government agencies to conduct a fair, speedy but thorough
investigation on this tragedy that caused death and injury to at least 60
workers.

“The high death toll from this inferno strongly indicates a
complete breach of safety protocols required for industries. Life
certainly matters, but justice for this kind of catastrophe goes beyond legally
required compensation. Factory owners and industry regulators must be
held criminally-liable for this tragedy,” said Renato Magtubo of Partido
Manggagawa (PM), one of Nagkaisa! convenors.

Josua Mata of Sentro ng Nagkakaisang Manggagawa (Sentro)
suggested that investigations do not just determine the cause of fire but must
dig deeper into why dozens of workers were fatally trapped in the second floor
of the factory building.

“The country’s occupational safety and health standards
(OSHS) do not only require workplaces to be safe from hazardous and flammable
substances but also must be equipped with necessary infrastructures that
address emergencies like contamination, fire or explosions,” said Mata.

Initial reports said the fire came from the stock of
chemicals in the first floor of the building where a welding work is also being
done.

Alan Tanjusay of ALU-TUCP, on his part, said: “this tragedy
could have been prevented had government agencies, which include the labor
department and local government units, strictly enforced the OSHS requirements
in workplaces.”

Leody De Guzman of Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP)
advised the families of victims of Valenzuela fire to organize themselves and
press charges against the owners of the footwear company.

The Federation of Free Workers (FFW) likewise called on
concerned government agencies to extend the necessary financial and legal
assistance to the victims.

The National Confederation of Labor (NCL) believed a
substantial number of establishments all over the country are not compliant with
occupational health safety standards because of corruption in government
agencies.

Meanwhile Annie Geron of PSLINK, a confederation of public
sector unions, bewailed the fact that quality public service, which include
ensuring the safety of all workers at all times, remains missing or stuck in a
state of downgraded priority in the government bureaucracy.

Friday, May 1, 2015

A big march to Malacanang with simultaneous
actions in other cities nationwide marked today’s celebration of Labor Day as
workers protested the government’s failure to address their bottom line issues
such asjobs
and job security, living wage, trade union rights, and decent working and
living conditions.

In Manila,
thousands of workers from different federations and labor organization
comprising the Nagkaisa! coalition marched from Mabuhay Welcome Rotonda to
Mendiola under the theme, “Hustisya sa Manggagawa at Sambayanan.”

The cry for justice, according to Nagkaisa!, is labor’s
summation of failed engagement with President Aquino, whom the group insisted,
“never stood on the side of labor since the PAL dispute in 2011” despite the
rhetoric of ‘tuwid na daan’.

“President Aquino should have learned a valuable lesson from
his last minute intervention on Mary Jane’s case. That in order to move a
quixotic boulder up the mountaintop, a firm decision and solid determination is
needed -- a resolve he never had in addressing labor problems during the last
five years in office,”said Partido Manggagawa (PM) chair Renato Magtubo and one of
Nagkaisa! convenors.

The group disclosed earlier that none of labor’s bottom line
issues such as contractualization, low wages and power rates reduction have
been addressed by Malacanang after four years of dialogues.

“During the last five years we didn’t ask President Aquino
to produce miracles. Yet a simple certification of pro-labor measure such
as the Security of Tenure bill to regulate contractualization did not even
warrant his attention,” said Josua Mata, Secretary
General of Sentro ng Nagkakaisang Manggagawa (Sentro), another convenor of
Nagkaisa!

Labor justice, he added, needs a powerful execution and not
endless dialogue.

Another convenor, Annie Geron of the Public Services Labor
Confederation (PSLINK), public sector unions are disappointed that the
President was not even aware of the fact that the government bureaucracy itself
is implementing a widespread and worst kind of contractualization called ‘job
orders’.

However, Nagkaisa! conceded that President Aquino has earned
credits for saving the life of Mary Jane Veloso. But the group said that
won’t change the fact that beyond his buzzer beater intervention on Mary Jane’s
behalf, many labor issues that translate into social problems like human
trafficking and the exodus of Filipinos to foreign lands persist.

“Filipino are hopelessly enmeshed in an unchanging political
system serving the affluent elite and betraying the destitute millions. They
sense that no one is fighting for them,”said Gerard Seno, Vice
President of Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP)-Nagkaisa!

Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) President accused
the Aquino administration of perpetuating the old system of elite rule.

“PNoy has resolutely protected controversial allies and
lifted no fingers on political dynasties. But never had he shown a grain of
disposition for the working class,”said De Guzman.

Other than Manila, labor marches
were also held in the cities of Cebu, Bacolod, Davao and General Santos.

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Our dream is a world that gives due importance to the role of the working class and respects the dignity of labor. A social order where the working men and women of the world live together in peace, harmony and progress.Our aspirations lie in the emancipation of labor. A government that is truly of the workers, by the workers and for the workers.

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The working class is the most important class in society. But, labor will only be a force to reckon with at a time when labor assumes the responsibility of leading the struggle to a decent living - free from exploitation of the propertied elite.

The time has come to rally every underprivileged sector of the society, to take the bull by the head and confront the issues of today. The working class must take an active role in every political exercise presented. The backbone of the independent party must be comprised of the working class with the other marginalized sectors in solidarity.

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